“Heeh… a ‘Combat Maid,’ huh?”
The Female Thief’s eyes changed slightly as she looked at me.
There are different types of ‘Escort Maids’ who protect nobles. Some simply stay by their master’s side, tasting for poison or acting as a shield in emergencies, physically protecting their master. Others gather information around their master, keeping them away from danger itself.
Among them were those like Sera, who possessed high combat ability, eliminating intruders and assassins discreetly and ruthlessly. Their main role was combat.
Judging from the Female Thief’s reaction, I guessed that such individuals were feared and hated by thieves who infiltrated noble mansions.
If Sera, with her incredible skills, could be called a ‘Combat Maid,’ then I, with only the strength of a mere ‘Maid,’ would still get Elena back.
Thwack!!
“Eep!?”
Suddenly, the Female Thief, still looking at me, threw a Knife at the carriage.
Elena’s scream could be heard from behind the wooden board where the Knife had struck, and I could see Mana Particles spreading from that spot.
“Such a tomboyish Princess. Even if you suppress your Mana and voice, I can still hear the ‘rhyme’ of the spell, you know? If you try anything funny again, I’ll use Magic…”
Whoosh!!
“Tch!”
I threw the “Blade” attached to the “Thread” with centrifugal force from the side, and the woman, who had been distracted for a moment, leaned back as if recoiling, dodging it.
“Aren’t I your opponent?”
“…You.”
The Female Thief turned her attention back to me, and I shook my head slightly at Elena, who was looking at me, telling her ‘Don’t do anything.’
“That’s right… I don’t have time, so let’s end the games here.”
As she said that, the Female Thief threw off the clothing store uniform, revealing a skin-tight leather outfit.
Certainly, loose clothes make it difficult to move. When I wasn’t used to the maid uniform, I felt like my movements were greatly restricted, but it also has its advantages.
The Female Thief discarded the Dagger she had been using and drew two new Daggers with an unnatural gleam.
It was probably “Poison.” There are different types of poison, but I had a feeling that even a graze from the kind of poison this Female Thief used would be bad news.
But the scariest thing was “Magic.” Moreover, I didn’t even know about Level 3 Earth Magic from my “knowledge,” but I had to come up with a plan to survive while being wary of poison and Magic.
Whoosh!
“That attack again!”
Sensing the attack, the Female Thief jumped away from the spot.
I used the “Thread’s” “Blade” to keep her in check, trying to keep out of the Female Thief’s range, as she was using poison. Even if she didn’t know what the attack was, she sensed that it was a projectile and dodged it based on instinct alone.
My trump cards right now were this “Thread’s” “Blade” and “Illusion Magic.”
I wanted to inflict some damage when I first used the “Thread’s” “Blade,” but I had no choice but to use it for restraint without being able to use it effectively.
Even if I kept my distance to avoid the poison, this Female Thief had Magic. Right now, she hadn’t figured out the speed of the centrifugal force, but if I kept using it and she realized it was just a Blade attached to a Thread, I would soon become a victim of her Magic.
Even so, I had no choice but to continue attacking with the weapons I had on hand to create an opening.
“—【Snare】—”
“Tch!”
As if escaping from the “Thread’s” “Blade,” the Female Thief cast a spell.
A hole suddenly opened under my feet, and I rolled away from it to avoid the Magic, but she wasn’t the type to let that go.
The Female Thief threw one of her poison-coated Daggers. I managed to deflect the Dagger at the last moment from my kneeling position, but at the same time as she threw the Dagger, the Female Thief charged in, drawing back her arm to Thrust the Dagger.
“—【Double Edge】—!!”
A Level 2 Dagger Combat Art, 【Double Edge】. The range is the same as usual, but the speed is increased, allowing for two consecutive Thrust attacks.
I couldn’t dodge this attack in my unbalanced state. But—
“What!?”
My body, which had lowered as if kneeling, slid sideways, and the Female Thief’s Combat Art only tore through my skirt.
Certainly, I wouldn’t normally be able to dodge it. But I had predicted that the Female Thief, impatient due to the lack of time, would rely on a Combat Art with high one-shot power, rather than a spell that took time to activate.
That’s why I was able to avoid the attack using the footwork I learned from Sera, while hiding my legs with my wide, long skirt.
Even though the prediction was half “intuition.” If she had used Magic here, I wouldn’t have been able to avoid it and would have suffered a fatal wound, but I couldn’t miss this opportunity that the Female Thief had given me by missing her Combat Art.
With one knee firmly on the ground to support my body, I pulled out a Knife as if twisting my upper body, and the Female Thief’s face twisted slightly as she understood what I was about to do.
“—【Thrust】—!”
I don’t use 【Combat Arts】 very often. High power is certainly attractive, but I hated the openings that occurred after using them.
I only use Combat Arts when I’m delivering the finishing blow or when a clear opening has been created. If the enemy deliberately creates that opening, there’s no reason for me not to use a Combat Art.
“Tch!”
But the Female Thief bent her body sideways to avoid the 【Thrust】 that I thought would hit. The skill ‘Suppleness’ floated into my head from my “knowledge,” but such a bizarre way of dodging was unexpected.
Even so, she couldn’t completely dodge it, and my Combat Art slashed the Female Thief’s shoulder shallowly, but at the same time as she fell sideways, she unleashed a sharp kick.
The tables had turned, and I couldn’t dodge after using the Combat Art. In a split-second decision, I was kicked in the waist as if jumping away, rolled several meters, and used that momentum to jump up.
I regained my stance, taking a slight distance. But by that time, the Female Thief had also stood up and was beginning to chant a spell.
Judging from the amount of Mana Particles, she was planning to use a large Magic. I threw the Knife I had pulled out, flipping my skirt, but the Female Thief’s Magic was completed a moment earlier.
“—【Rock Skin】—”
Clang!
The Throwing Knife was deflected by the Female Thief’s leather clothes.
Not an offensive Magic, but a defensive one. To determine that, I threw the “Thread’s” “Blade,” and the Female Thief grinned and brushed the Blade away with her bare hand.
“Heeh… a Blade attached to the end of a Thread… a Pendulum? You use interesting things, but such clever attacks won’t work anymore.”
“…………”
So, that’s the effect of the Magic… The Female Thief’s appearance hadn’t changed, but her entire body was covered in Earth-attribute Mana Particles.
Probably, judging from the effect, I could determine that it was a Magic Armor.
“It’s over. I really… didn’t expect to have so much trouble with a child of Rank 1. Since you made me use my ‘trump card,’ at least cry out in a good voice. I’m going to make it very, very ‘painful’ for you.”
The Female Thief began chanting Magic again with a distorted smile.
I threw the “Thread’s” “Blade” to stop her, but the Female Thief didn’t dodge, and the Blade was deflected by the woman’s cheek with a hard sound.
“…………”
I didn’t know what kind of Magic it was, but I started running so she wouldn’t be able to narrow down her target, and at the same time, the Female Thief’s Magic was completed.
“—【Stone Blitz】—”
“Tch!”
Several Pebbles were released from the ground as if bursting.
I crossed my arms to protect my head and jumped away, but even so, several Pebbles struck my body and sent me rolling on the ground.
“Ugh…”
“You’re persistent for a child… fufu.”
Body wounds and HP are different things. Even if your HP is empty, you’ll just faint and become unable to move, you won’t die immediately. Conversely, even if your HP is full, you can die just by being stabbed in the heart.
Pebbles are blunt-force attacks, so as long as I can defend my vital points, there won’t be any serious damage. Still, it’s difficult to dodge that many, and if I take even one hit to a vital point, I won’t survive the next one.
It’s no longer a matter of buying time. My attacks have no effect, and the opponent can easily kill me with either a Dagger or Magic.
“Have you run out of tricks? You fought well for a child, but I’m going to kill you for sure, you troublesome thing.”
“…………”
I have one more “trump card.” But I haven’t met the “conditions” to use it yet.
Even if I were to make a normal attack, the Female Thief is using Magic Armor.
There isn’t much “knowledge” about Magic Armor, but if I gather information, it either disappears after a certain amount of cumulative damage or reduces a certain amount of damage from a single attack for a certain period of time.
Which is this Earth Armor? I think it’s the former since it’s Earth-based. Since she calls it her trump card, it’s probably doubtful that she can use Level 3 Magic again.
So, I prayed that the magic wouldn’t work again, and endured the pain all over my body as I continued to chip away at the Magic Armor.
“Ahahaha, useless, useless!”
Knives and the thread-like blade that the female thief called a Pendulum were deflected by her skin. Perhaps because I was aiming only for places where her skin was visible, the female thief deliberately took the blade to her face and laughed at me.
The female thief charged straight at me without any defense. If weapons don’t work, I’ll try to manage with martial arts, but my damaged body couldn’t move as it should, and the female thief’s dagger grazed my shoulder.
“Ugh… Aaaaaah!”
Intense pain assaulted me from that shallow wound. I couldn’t help but raise my voice in response to the pain, and the female thief’s face twisted in ecstasy.
“Ah… you finally cried out. But don’t worry. It’s not a poison that will kill you right away, but… this poison is very ‘painful’, isn’t it?”
“…kuu…”
The wound itself wasn’t deep, but a sharp pain made me groan.
The intense pain caused my muscles to spasm, and I couldn’t even breathe properly. An ordinary child would either cry out or lose consciousness, but I couldn’t afford to lose consciousness here.
…Just a little more…
The female thief looked down at me with a laugh and kicked me, who couldn’t move well.
I rolled on the ground, biting my lip to glare at the woman and keep from screaming. The female thief had a trembling, ecstatic expression and stepped on me as I lay on my back.
“Good… Maid-chan… I want to torment you more… I want to make you cry out more. I have to kill you, but I don’t have time… Ah… I want to bully you more.”
“…………”
“Ah, that face is wonderful! Let me hear your voice more!”
The female thief raised her arm as if screaming and plunged the poisoned dagger deep into my abdomen.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“That’s right, cry and scream more! Show me a face more twisted in agony! It hurts, doesn’t it? It’s painful, isn’t it? Ahahahahaha!”
It hurts, it’s painful… but I can’t lose consciousness here. Because I’ve finally… prepared.
So… I’ll “return” it to you.
“…【Phantom Pain】…”
When my Dark Magic activated, the female thief had a bewildered look for a moment, and the next moment, the female thief, her face twisted hideously, let out a scream like a pig in a slaughterhouse.
“Hiii! Aaaaaaaah! Guwaaaaaaaaaah!”
Perhaps because she was a magician-type thief who didn’t do much combat, she didn’t have much resistance to “pain”.
Without shame or regard for appearances, the female thief, who had been in a dominant position until then, was now rolling on the ground and screaming madly.
Illusion-type magic can only reproduce what you know.
For example, 【Noise】 creates sounds that you know, and 【Feel】 reproduces the sensations you have felt on your skin.
The 【Phantom Pain】 that I used is a Dark Magic that inflicts “pain” on the opponent by loading the “pain” I know into Mana and firing it.
But in order to use it, I needed to know the “pain” that would serve as the standard, at the very limit where I wouldn’t die.
The pain doesn’t cause physical damage even if it’s inflicted. The composition isn’t that different from 【Feel】, but it consumes more than 20 Mana to reproduce the pain, so it can’t be used in rapid succession.
Even so, I was hoping for an effect that would stop the opponent’s movement for a few seconds.
But instead of my own pain, the intense pain, the source of which I didn’t even know, confused the female thief’s mind, and the nerves deceived by the pain began to spasm.
“………,”
I also endured the same pain and stood up, putting strength into my trembling legs.
It’s not that my spirit is strong. Even though I was feeling the same pain, the light that I finally saw uplifted my spirit and gave me the strength to endure the pain.
“Hiii, gaa, s-stop… don’t come… I can’t move anymore… guah.”
Perhaps she was recovering from the confusion little by little, the woman tried to distance herself from me as she crawled, uttering broken words.
But her convulsing body didn’t have any strength, so she was slower than me, who was dragging my body with a stab wound in my abdomen.
I have to finish this before the female thief’s nerves get used to the “illusion” of pain.
But the female thief’s body is still covered in Magic Armor, and blades and strikes won’t damage her, but…
“Hii.”
I wrapped the thread around the neck of the female thief who was trying to pull away. I wrapped it around her neck many times to secure it, put my knee on her neck, and pulled the thread with all my might, and blood spurted from the stab wound in her abdomen.
“H… s-stop… help.”
“No way. You die.”
I also squeezed out the last of my strength and pulled the thread with the power of Body Enhancement and the leverage of my knee.
“Agaagagaagaagaaaaaa.”
“–!”
Even a soft-bodied person has limits. The female thief tried to resist with the strength of her neck even while convulsing against me, who was putting all my strength into it.
I used Mana Control, which had reached Level 2, and pulled the thread with all my Body Enhancement, and the female thief’s neck, which had been in a stalemate, began to twist, and that neck, which was gradually being twisted–
Pakin…
It faced directly backward with a sound like breaking a dry branch wrapped in a wet cloth.
“”…………””
The female thief’s face, twisted in terror, stared at me in astonishment, and the light of life that had been shining in her eyes quietly sank into the darkness, reflecting my expressionless face in her pupils.
That’s the conclusion. This time, it was quite a dirty way to kill.
Would a normal protagonist awaken or something and pierce the armor…?
I defeated her, but it’s not over. Can Aria, who was stabbed in the abdomen and poisoned, survive?
Next time, a vow with Elena.
Probably scheduled for tomorrow.
A brief explanation.
As some of you pointed out in the comments, there is no such job title as “Combat Maid”.
There are types of Escort Maids who mainly handle combat, and such individuals are feared by assassins and thieves.
The “Combat Maid” that Elena muttered is like a coined word that refers to such people, and it is not an official name, but it makes sense to people in the industry. It’s just a coincidence that Elena and Aria used the same word.